In a recent appearance on the massively popular anti-LGBTQ+ podcaster Joe Rogan’s show, actor Woody Harrelson called Dr. Anthony Fauci “extraordinarily evil” for distributing a medication called azidothymidine (AZT) at the height of the AIDS epidemic.
AZT was the first FDA-approved antiretroviral medication used to combat HIV and AIDS. While it was not fully effective, it did slow down the progression of the virus and allow people to extend their lives. One 1989 study found that the median survival time of AIDS patients taking AZT was 4.5 times higher than those who did not take it.
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“We have got to make sure that the extreme right in Congress realize they can’t get away with what they are doing.”
“AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug, and of course, that was the one they picked,” Harrelson told Rogan. “They started using that again, and I don’t know how many people that killed.”
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“That killed friends of mine. AZT was very toxic, and they finally had to yank it. Now they use different chemical cocktails, but Fauci did some extraordinarily evil s**t.”
Dr. Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and was long at the helm of America’s medical response efforts to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Harrelson—who is also known for pushing COVID-19 conspiracy theories—was referring to accusations reportedly made by Secretary of Health and Human Services and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his 2021 book, The Real Anthony Fauci.
Harrelson praised Kennedy–a widely known anti-vaxxer who has claimed man-made chemicals in the environment could be making children gay and transgender–as “heroic” and a “man who cares deeply.”
WOODY: “AZT was known to be a highly toxic, really ineffective drug. And of course that was the one they picked … That k*lled friends of mine … Fauci did some extraordinarily evil sh*t, and he knows what he did.” pic.twitter.com/nvxmaukv3X
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 23, 2025
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